"Mom, what is a divorce?"
It was the first thing Bjorn asked when he got back from school. He hopped on the bar stool next to his mom, dumping his little back pack on the kitchen counter.
Aria made sure that on Wednesday and Friday she would always be home when their kids got back from school. The other days Cora would be there. And Bjorn always joined his mom in kitchen where they would drink juice together and talk about his day. Ella used to do that also, but now that she was 13 she was more involved in after school activities or hanging with her friends. Soccer training was especially time consuming. She also had not been too happy when her mom started teaching Spanish class in her school. Being a teacher's daughter was not cool.
Bjorn on the other hand did not really like sports. The other day he came me home with the idea of taking music lessons. He had decided to become a professional saxophone player for the Dire Straits. One of his moms favorite bands. Aria had smiled and would not tell him that his dream could only partially become true. And so they arranged music lessons for him, every week.
"A divorce, uhm" Aria stuttered a little as she looked at Victor for help "A divorce is when two people who were once married, decide that they no longer want to be married anymore".
"But why?" Bjorn continued to wonder.
"Well, that can be for all kinds of reasons. Why are you asking about divorce sweetie?".
"Axel says his parents are getting a divorce so now he will have to move to another house and live with his mom. He can only see his dad once a week. But I don't understand why people get divorced. It seems to cause a lot of trouble".
Axel was Bjorn's friend from school who had been over at their house quite a lot. So Aria already knew his parents were getting a divorce because Axel's mom told her.
She put a cookie in front of her son and some juice as she sat down to try and explain this as good as possible "There are many reasons for getting a divorce. Most of the time it comes down to not loving each other anymore. Sometimes people fight too much, or not at all. Sometimes people simply stop loving each other. But the parents will always love their children no matter what".
"Axel says he never heard his parents fight and that his mom said it's bad when you never fight" Bjorn continued "Will you and dad stop loving each other and get a divorce?".
Aria smiled reassuringly "No. Never".
"But how do you know?".
"It's a little different with us buddy" Victor joined the conversation, thought he secretly preferred to leave the hard questions to Aria.
"Because we're mutants?" Born asked.
"Because we are also mutants" Aria corrected him, making sure he understood that being mutant did not define them as people. They were first and foremost human beings like everyone else. It was important for her that her children understood that.
Victor grinned and looked at his son again "Ferals are different when it comes to choosing a partner. We choose a mate for life and are not really interested in being with someone else. We don't get bored with each other like other people".
"So you love mom?" Bjorn asked as he chewed on big chunks of his cookie.
Victor kissed Aria's neck and made her giggle "I love your mom very much".
"So no divorce?".
"No divorce buddy".
"But I never hear you fight" Bjorn stated "Isn't that bad?".
"Ha!" Aria scoffed out a laugh as she got up and poured some tea "Do not worry about that sweetie, your father and I, we fight from time to time. Believe me".
Victor moved closely behind his wife again "And then we make up" he said as he pinched her but, making it clear to her how much he liked to fight and make up with her.
The next Sunday it was mother's day. It was by far her favorite day of the year. Ella and Bjorn would wake them way too early with breakfast and presents and they were almost as excited as when it was Christmas and they were the ones getting the presents.
Though Ella had actually crawled into bed with her mom the night before mother's day. Because she had secretly watched Nightmare on Elm Street and was dead scared of getting to sleep after that.
"I told you that you weren't allowed to watch it" Aria had said as she pulled back the blankets.
"I know, I know, I know. And I'm sorry. Ground me for all I care, but please let me sleep here".
Aria sighed but gave in anyway "Fine, hop in. And never watch those kind of movies again".
"I won't. I swear" Ella squeaked as she quickly hopped into bed next to her mom who covered her with the blankets and pulled her close.
Victor had been more than a little disappointed when he came home that night after a three day business trip.
"What's she doing in here?" he whispered as he kissed his wife's neck. No matter how adoring the sight of his two girls was, he really had been mind set on fucking Aria's brains out as soon as he got back.
"She watched some shitty horror movie and was afraid to go to sleep" Aria whispered as she turned around and kissed him back.
"For fuck sake" Victor grumbled as he felt himself getting hard for his wife "Ya know, if she's old enough to watch shit like that, then she's old enough to sleep alone after it. That'll teach her".
"No" Aria replied "I'm pretty sure she's learned her lesson, no need to punish her for every little mistake Victor".
"Fine" he growled against her neck as he inhaled her sensual smell "Christ sake, I wanted to-".
"I know what you wanted to" Aria giggled softly "But you can't be selfish when you have kids".
"So… now I'm being punished for her disobedience".
Aria giggled and couldn't help but make the same joke she always did when Ella did something that Victor disapproved of "You fathered her without me knowing Victor. Remember? I had no say in it. So now you can deal with it".
He grumbled quietly as he pulled her against him.
She hugged up to him, her palms softly stroking his naked chest "I'll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise".
"Fine. But you're not getting off lightly frail" he whispered dangerously as he pulled her tightly against him "I will punish you and make you scream".
Now it was morning and the kids were sitting on the bed with them. Ella was still half asleep, she had not been too fond of Bjorn when he woke them up at 7 in the morning. She was leaning against her mom, half asleep as Aria sometimes removed a few strand of wild hairs from her face, wondering if Ella looked more like Victor or her as she grew older.
"My friend Emilie tells me that when you kiss a girl, you have to get married and have children" Bjorn said.
Aria laughed "Well, that is not entirely true".
"Good" he seemed relieved.
"Did you kiss a girl?" Aria teased.
"Ew, gross! No mom!".
Aria laughed and Ella moved up a bit, deciding she would not get any more sleep here with Bjorn asking all his dumb kiddy questions. She moved up a little placing her head against her mom's shoulder "Speaking of…" Ella groggily said "I'm supposed to write a short essay for English class about a love story that I made up. So I was thinking, maybe you could tell me how you and dad met".
"Oh that's a good story" Aria said "Your father should really tell this one, he remembers it so much better than I do".
Victor growled as he threw his head back, leaning against the head board of their huge bed "Nah, your mom should tell you, her version is better".
Bjorn leaned forward in excitement "Did you kiss mom and then marry her?!"
Aria looked to her side at Victor and smirked "I don't remember, did you?".
He growled softly, Aria moved her lips next to his ear and whispered "Let's go with a fake story, unless you wanna go with the 'bought-your-mom-to-breed-then-changed-my-mind-version'?".
Victor coughed as he quickly thought of something "It's not a very interesting story kids. I met your mom when she applied for a job at my company".
"Did you hire her and then fell in love while working?!" Bjorn asked in excitement.
"No. She did not have the required skills so I rejected her".
Aria narrowed her eyes and Victor smirked, sticking to his version of the story "But I called her up afterwards to tell her she didn't get the job and then asked her out. One thing led to another".
Bjorn seemed disappointed "That is the most boring love story ever".
"It also doesn't make sense" Ella stated sharply "Why would a Spanish teacher apply for a job at your company which builds boats and what not?".
Aria flushed, her daughter was a too smart for her own good. And her age.
"Well I didn't start teaching Spanish until after Bjorn was born".
"Mmmm" Ella mused suspiciously, not entirely convinced "I guess I will have to make something up a little more exciting".